Marked for Magic by Daisy Banks

Cover & Excerpt

Marked for Magic
by Daisy Banks
Spellbound for a night to remember...

The witch mark on Nin’s hand is a curse.

She has no magic powers, whatever the lore says. But the village believes.

The old crone’s wisdom is to see her banished.

Ragged and hungry, she must serve the Mage. Alone in his tower, she is his chattel.

But Mage Thabit is not what Nin expected—the bright green eyes and supple form under his cloak are not the stuff of nightmares, and kindness hides in his brusque heart. Thabit senses that Nin is more than she seems, too.

When true nightmares haunt the land, it is precisely her elusive powers that might deliver them…

Genre: Fantasy Romance
Content/Theme(s): Magic, Mage, Danger, Adventure
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Publisher: Lyrical Press, a Kensington Imprint

Excerpt & More

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Excerpt:
“Once she prepared all she’d picked, the gloom could not disguise that the vegetables wouldn’t fit in the small pot. She drummed the table. Even though she’d eaten a few of the carrot slices raw, her stomach clenched. She needed this meal.

She toyed with the idea of calling up to him, but she’d promised not to disturb his work, and his temper certainly burned short. If she didn’t call him, she couldn’t cook, and he’d be angry. Yet chances were if she did call him, he’d be angry, too. By the end of her deliberations, she’d grown angry herself.

She might as well get on with it. I’ve got to have a bigger cauldron!

The door to the stairs creaked on its hinges as she opened it. About to call up, she stilled when his tread sounded at the top of the stone steps.

“You have no need to yell up the stairs.” His voice echoed in the lofty darkness.

“I didn’t.” Was this part of his magic? What else could he do as well as hear what she thought? Only Alicia had ever heard the mind singing, but neither she nor her friend thought the trick was anything but a game. Mind singing couldn’t be magic.

“I distinctly heard you yell.” He hesitated, as though waiting for an explanation. When she offered none, he continued down the stairs. “The cooking pot is here.”

She moved out of the way. He brushed past to reach up to the top of the cupboard where she couldn’t see, and handed her a much larger cauldron than the one on the table.

He glanced toward the hearth and demanded. “Where is the small pot?”

She froze. Was he angry?

A spasm crossed his face and his lip twitched.

“I emptied it in the stream. I meant to use the small pot for the soup.”

“Gods, I am doomed!” His stare blazed green fire. “You have thrown away the finest batch of seeing mushrooms I have made in years.” He ran his hand over his hair. The blue coils around his wrist seemed to writhe like live, spring-woken snakes. “Foolish brat, did you not think to ask?”

She shook her head, gritting her teeth to keep silent.

He glowered. “Nin, a new rule. Here you touch nothing if it contains anything.”

“That’s stupid. You can’t say I mustn’t touch anything. You should have said not to use the small cauldron. I didn’t know.” Ready to bolt, she edged to the door.

“Well, you know now!” His yell almost lifted her feet. “Do you know what a seeing mushroom looks like?”

“Yes,” she murmured. Aunt Jen had pointed them out, so both she and her cousin Lettie knew them. Her aunt had always warned they should never go in the pot, no matter how hungry they all were. The seeing mushrooms were small, sour, but most of all, dangerous. “I’ve seen them.”

“Then go out and pick more. I’ll need twenty-four, at least. I want them before nightfall.”

She backed around to the other side of the table. Safe with something solid between them, her heart hammered less. She quelled her fear. His green robe, it wasn’t so fine. A tear ran up to his knee on one side. It needed stitching. “I’ll make the soup first, shall I? I’ll need a collecting basket.”

He opened the tall top cupboard and yanked down a wicker basket. One of his sleeves bore a patch at the elbow. For a Mage, he wasn’t so well off.

“Here.” He shoved the basket toward her. “And don’t come back without them.”

He stomped up the stairs. She could have spat after him. Several of the more unpleasant names the villagers screeched when she left raced through her mind. He deserved all of those names.

“I heard that,” he called. “Don’t let me hear you cursing again!”

Ice water ran through her veins. He was the Mage, yes, but no one had told her that he could hear thoughts. Agnes had said hundreds of vile things. Most of them she refused to think of, but the wise woman had never mentioned he would know what she was thinking.

Desperate to get out of the room, she threw the vegetables in the big pot and sloshed in a jug of water with a quick prayer to the gods to look after the meal. She fumbled in her haste as she slung the heavy pot on the hook over the fire, but it stayed in place. Certain the soup would cook, she grabbed the basket to flee from his wrath.
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Purchase link(s):  Amazon   ARe   iTunes   Kobo   B&N
Other titles by Daisy Banks:

To Eternity	Sexy To Go Vol 4	Sexy To Go Vol 3	Sexy To Go Vol 2
Timeless	Valentine Wishes	Hot Holiday Treats	A Perfect Match
A Gentleman’s Folly	Your Heart My Soul	Fiona’s Wish	A Matter of Some Scandal

Find Daisy Banks at:
DaisyBanksNovels.yolasite.com
Twitter: @DaisyBanks16
daisybanks.wordpress.com
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Daisy Banks on Cover Reveals

Be on the lookout for Daisy Banks' future release(s): Sexy To Go Vol 5 coming May 2015, Sexy To Go Vol 6 coming June 2015, Sexy To Go Vol 7 coming July 2015, Sexy To Go Vol 8 coming Aug 2015, Christmas Carols coming August 2015, and Sexy To Go Vol 9 coming September 2015

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